The outer residence of the East Palace.

The slender fingers like green onions quickly plucked the beads, crackling like a beautiful music. This is the chamber set up by the crown prince. There is only one patio separated from the dormitory, and the roar can be heard clearly.

According to the compartment, the prince divided this chamber into one to three sections. The first section is responsible for weekday correspondence, the second section is responsible for the audit of various silver grain storage, and the third section is responsible for the communication between the outer residence and the palace and the outer court.

Yao Tao was standing at the door of the second department at the moment, watching the female officials below nervously dial the plan and copy the data. She is now the canon of the seventh grade, and her name is in the palace Zhengji. Gong Zhengsi is the agency responsible for the correction of the palace ban atmosphere, similar to the Metropolitan Procuratorate of the outer court, with great power. Yao Tao lacked qualifications, and the prince of TOEFL left the palace to get this position.

For a female officer of her age, it is enough to be proud.

The female officials of the Ming Dynasty had two very important functions, one was to keep the seal of the Heavenly Family, even if the celebrant wanted to use the seal, he had to transfer the text to the Shangbao Division, and the female official took it out and used it. It's not something that can be put on a desk and can be covered casually. Tian Cunshan's official position is called the seal of the East Palace, but in fact, he really got the seal of the prince because he left the palace.

The other is to be responsible for the order and record of the concubines of the Son of Heaven. Since the twenty-second year of Hongwu, there has been a full-time female official in the palace who is in charge of this matter, named Tongshi. Later, Tong Shi also took into account the sex education function of the East Palace, and before the East Palace and the prince got married, let the "simple" princes understand the affairs of men and women.

When Zhu Cihong was in the palace, the nurse was released after weaning, and she was surrounded by eunuchs, and only two old women over sixty years old were responsible for taking care of them, nagging about "ancestral system" and "rules" all day long. Because the wedding is scheduled for next year, the queen will send these young and beautiful palace maids, so that the prince will not understand anything.

The first task given by the prince to these female officials and palace maids was to classify the good writers in the first section of the attendants, and the good calculators to the second section, and the eloquent tongue and legs and feet were diligent in the three sections.

Female officials are different from eunuchs, and they do not have those Hanlin teachings with excellent character and learning. However, they were already educated when they were selected to serve as female officials in the palace. According to the rules set by Emperor Taizu Gao, these female officials are all virtuous women who are innocent, literate and sentence-breaking, and good at female popularity and statistics.

Even those palace maids who were purchased had to go through the cultural education of the internal prison if they wanted to be promoted to female officials.

Therefore, since the founding of the Ming Dynasty, there have been illiterate ceremonial eunuchs and eunuchs, but there are no female officials who do not understand Chinese and ink.

Yao Tao was originally the head of the female officials, but she was appointed by the prince as the head of the second section, and the scope of her powers and responsibilities became unclear for a while. However, this does not prevent her from doing her best for the prince, anyway, there are many places where the power and responsibilities of the Ming Dynasty are confused.

"Yao Dianzheng," a female official stepped forward with a book, "I have already calculated according to my orders." ”

Yao Tao took the book, flipped through it, and according to the secret mantra in the palace, he briefly reviewed the numbers and said, "Let everyone rest for a while, don't be in a hurry to disperse first." You come with me. ”

"Yes." The female officer smiled.

Yao Tao knew that the prince and eunuch Liu were still waiting, so he didn't say much, and walked quickly towards the study. The female officer followed closely behind, not daring to fall too far.

When she arrived at the door of the prince's study, Yao Tao stopped the female official and said, "You are waiting here." After that, the little eunuch inside had already called Yao Tao's name and let her in.

The study was brightly lit, and an arm-thick candle illuminated the room as if it were day. Not only did the crown prince sit on the throne and wait, but there were also Liu Ruoyu, Wu Weiye and Zhou Jing next to him.

Seeing the female official, Wu Weiye was very surprised, he wanted to take a good look, but he didn't dare to look at it directly.

Yao Tao didn't expect that there would be a foreign official, her heart was beating, and her voice trembled a little. She said, "Your Highness, this is a summary of today's fundraising. ”

The attendant stepped forward to take the book and sent it to the prince's desk.

Zhu Cihong opened it, looked at all kinds of summaries, as well as the total number of zuihou, and laughed softly: "I got five thousand three hundred taels in one night." My gentry of the Ming Dynasty are truly generous and bold. ”

Wu Weiye was a little unsure whether the prince was talking back, and when he saw Liu Ruoyu and Zhou Jing laughing, he reluctantly pulled the corners of his mouth, but he didn't dare to move too much.

"You sit." Zhu Cihong pointed to Wu Weiye's head and said to Yao Tao.

Yao Tao walked slowly to the chair and sat shallowly, but his mind was already blank.

Zhu Cihong took a stack of paper from the table, asked the attendant to hand it to Liu Ruoyu, and said, "The people on this list are all lieutenants who refuse to come, and those who have not donated, you go and hand them over to Wang Chengen." You can tell him bluntly that if you only send a dispatch to guard the mausoleum, the lonely family will be very unhappy. As for these guys' property, I'm half with him. ”

Liu Ruoyu took the list and flipped through it: "Your Highness, can you give a three-day reprieve, if there are still those who are obsessed, it is not too late to thunder." ”

Zhu Cihong raised his eyebrows and nodded, "Yes." He was also worried that the people who included Wang Chengen would bring a rift to the covenant that had just been concluded.

Zhou Jing and Wu Weiye unconsciously looked at the other two piles of paper on the table. On it was a list of gentry who did not donate money. I think that the prince will not only attack the eunuchs, but let these wealthy businessmen and nobles who do not give him face. But they really couldn't think of how the prince would deal with these people? These people don't want to be embarrassed, when they are in a hurry, they will put things on the streets to sell, crying poor and crying miserably, as if they can't survive anymore.

Even the emperor had no choice but to give up fundraising, did the prince have any good ideas?

The prince's hand slapped on the two stacks of paper, and put them in a stack, and he picked up a book and pressed it down, but it did not fall on the spot. He shouted, "Wu Weiye." ”

"The minister is here."

"These gentry who donate money must send tax credits as soon as possible." Zhu Cihong said: "In addition, it is estimated that the official has to talk nonsense again, you write a letter to Bixia overnight, explaining in my name that the purpose of our tax vouchers is to encourage the gentry to do good, and at the same time, we must make it clear that these gentry have been doing everything possible to evade taxes and evade taxes, and they can't pay a few taels of silver a year, and now let them donate it, which is much more than normal tax collection." ”

"The prince is wise, it's better than nothing, this helpless move, a trade-off." Liu Ruoyu made a summary of the prince's behavior, and patted him by the way.

Although Wu Weiye disagreed, from the perspective of the prince's staff, it was indeed the lesser of two evils, although he exempted people from a lot of taxes, but this tax could not be collected in the first place, and it was not a loss.

Emperor Taizu Gao set the commercial tax at 30 tax 1, that is, 3.3 percent of the business tax. This is undoubtedly very favorable compared to later generations. Moreover, in order to prevent the extortion of cool officials, Emperor Gao also stipulated that local officials who collected taxes in excess of the amount should be punished. Therefore, for a long time, as long as the magistrate collected enough taxes during the Hongwu period, he refused to collect any more taxes.

With the increase of the total economic volume and the prosperity of the commodity economy, the tax amount in the Hongwu period has long become a drizzle. Who still pays taxes for wealthy businessmen with backgrounds? In the end, the amount of taxes fell on the small merchants.

"Write another official letter to the household department," Zhu Cihong continued, "and tell them that this silver is considered an epidemic tax, and I will collect it for them." Later, when there are expenses, a copy will be copied to them, even if their taxes and expenses are counted. ”

Since the beginning of the previous year, the household department has been agitating for an increase in taxes and salaries, and now that the prince has helped them collect and use it, it is not unacceptable to think about it. What's more, tax interception is the unspoken rule of Ming officialdom, and the prince is willing to announce it is already very kind.

Wu Weiye deserves to be a high-ranking talent who can win the second place in the national examination, nodded slightly, and the framework of the article has been set up in his chest, and after he comes down, he only needs to refine the words and polish it.

"Besides, the first section of the East Palace Attendant Room doesn't have a good section chief, so how about Wu Shuzi taking office?" With Zhu Cihong's character, he doesn't like a sissy like Wu Weiye. But from the perspective of work ability and personality, Wu Weiye is a very suitable candidate to be a secretary. And because his character is weak, he can't get power at all, and he is more at ease to use.

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